Inspirasia’s approach to grantmaking is built around four core principles:

Inspiration
Business and philanthropy, hand in hand
Maximum impact
More than money

How We Fund

Inspirasia funds small to medium-sized grants in the areas of essential health, disability, and education services targeting highly marginalised families in South and Southeast Asia and now in Malta too. Inspirasia grants are typically long term partnerships, lasting 5 years or more. Cash grant funding from Inspirasia comes packaged with training and mentorship delivered by experts in our networks - we call this "more than money" support.

First and foremost, Inspirasia evaluates potential for impact among grantees and grant proposals. Some of the key features we look for are:

Leaders that love to learn - Exceptional, stable, and dedicated local leadership and management with an entrepreneurial mindset and an evolving, constantly improving organization.

Programme potential for impact – Focus on the client experience and impact on the clients' lives, combined with expertise in the given field and/or deep networks and partnerships with experts in their field.

We also evaluate the grantee and proposal’s fit with Inspirasia’s approach to giving and portfolio.

Maximum Impact - some serious attempt at measurement of impact and results in hard data – or at least an interest in this.

Our portfolio focuses on health, disability, and education. Grantees and proposals from other sectors are not considered at this time.

Services funded by Inspirasia grants target highly marginalised communities or families living below the global poverty line of US$4 per day, for example, people with disabilities in Indonesia, drug users living on the streets of Indian cities, and orphans in Thailand.

Inspirasia seeks long term grantmaking partnerships. Inspirasia rarely grants for one-time activities or single-year grants. Many of our original partners since Inspirasia's establishment in 2003 continue receiving Inspirasia support in some form or another a decade later. We are proud to continue helping them grow today.

Because we seek long term partnerships that typically last 5 years or more, Inspirasia’s due diligence process for first-time grantees is selective and is often a long term process itself.

Inspirasia grant amounts vary widely. In 2014, our smallest grant was US$12,500 and our largest grant was more than 15x that amount.

Only non-religious, non-political activities are considered for Inspirasia grants.

More Than Money

Fundamental to Inspirasia philosophy is adding "more than money" value. Inspirasia cash grants come packaged with a targeted, customised training and mentorship package. The “more than money” package is built on specific needs identified by the grantee and are agreed by the Inspirasia board.

We value local expertise, autonomy, and understanding of the local context highly, and most often use deeply rooted local experts to deliver "more than money" support.

Some of the most common areas of "more than money" support, focus on finance/accounting, clinical standard, donor relationships, strategy, and impact assessment.

As we get to know a grantee’s operations and strategy through “more than money” support, we then look at cash funding at a greater scale, often looking at ways to mobilise our networks to help grantees achieve their organization's goals.

If you would like to introduce us to a project, please email us on info@inspirasia.org and one of our team would be delighted to walk you through our process.